Film Review: The Thrill of a Kill (2011)

SYNOPSIS:

After fighting with her mom, Kimsy runs into the woods to cool off, where she meets a friendly photographer. A day of bloodshed and murder follows…

REVIEW:

While it is not uncommon for us to receive several low budget independent productions, it is uncommon to receive ones that are done so well on a low budget. This latest film is a “Violence Productions” debut-shot-piece called “the Thrill of a Kill” directed by Lars-Erik Lie “The Thrill of a Kill” is set within the foundation of nasty extreme torture movies. I always tend to note this up front so the viewers have a better idea of the content flying at them.

The movie stars adorable Kirsten Jakobsen as Kimsy. When she gets into an argument with her mother, she decides to head off down the road on her own. It’s not too far off before she encounters a violent camouflaged brute who knocks her unconscious and leaves her laying into the woods without her clothes. The ordeal is only further prolonged as he continues to do it several times (as he plays with her). In light of the dark content, there is something humorous about this whole sequence (damn…knocked me out and stripped me again…rats)

Kimsy runs for her life but appears to be no match for this overgrown menace who soon kidnaps her and drags her back to his lair of beaten and abused women. As they hang chained, bound, and bloody, our psychotic antagonist proceeds to have his way with her as with all the others who obviously have been abused for quite some time. It’s not that he is intent with raping them for later, but that he chooses to murder them in cold blood when it appeals to him. He slits one of the girls throats in front on Kimsy to hammer in this fact. Kimsy is helplessly bound by her kneck with her arms outstretched and chained.

“Thrill of a Kill” excels in its pure visceral violence that takes me back to the days of “Hostel“. It’s apparent that filmmakers have taken all our worst fears and ramped them up into visual performances. Film provides that comfort of fiction, but you have to wonder how much of this materiel is actually being implemented thru out the world. Lars-Erik Lie, while showing us nightmares, also “releases” this subconscious horror by letting it carry out on screen. In this case we can always comfort in the fact that the credits will roll when its over.

“Thrill of a Kill” while only working with a micro budget really ends up working on many levels that US films have failed at. The shots are kept tight with a strong range of believable performances by the women actors involved. It never needs to use too many fx as the ones that are captured on camera are shot in a way that make the scenes feel realistic without a large budget to work with. Director Lars-Erik Lie obviously has seen his share of extreme films and knows what the audiences are looking for. The film features several flashback sequences that take us back to when our killer was a child. We get a brief look at the pains he had to deal with and a home that was broken (at best). Now the film could have just of course presented the torture and probably still achieved what it set out to do, however its nice to see a bit of back history to the psychotic path which fills in those gaps we might be guessing about.

The DVD features a nice range of extras with the cast and crew laughing about during filming. It’s a nice inclusion that reveals a bit about the process and close ups that we end up seeing in the movie. It also reaffirms that these women were just acting and not being abused like we “might” be led to believe.

“Thrill of a Kill” is a powerhouse of visceral excellence that will satisfy any gore hound. Everything you’ve heard about Norwegian horror films is true, you won’t sit comfortably.

http://www.thrillofakill.com/

The Thrill of a Kill (2011)